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Beaver-Butler Presbytery Dismisses Second Church

From the story: Beaver-Butler Presbytery has dismissed Portersville Presbyterian Church from the Presbyterian Church (USA) into the more theologically conservative Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

This is the second church that Beaver-Butler has so dismissed. However, the financial terms of the earlier dismissal of Chippewa United Presbyterian Church in Beaver Falls were appealed to a church court, so Chippewa remains in the presbytery pending a decision. There were 87 churches in the presbytery prior to Tuesday night's presbytery meeting.

The 176-member Portersville congregation had voted 115-3 to leave. This is part of a movement by some conservative Presbyterian Church (USA) congregations to avoid property litigation by seeking dismissal into a sister Presbyterian denomination. Read more....

This summer, the 208th General Assembly of the PC (USA) voted to “suspend” the authoritative interpretation of the ”fidelity and chastity” clause of the church’s Constitution while the 173 Presbyteries vote to either keep the ”fidelity and chastity” clause, or replace it with less restrictive language that would permit gay and lesbian ordination. This has caused great angst within the denomination, as the rules for ordination have been “waived” while the vote is in progress.